Quality control and safety represent increasingly important concerns for project managers. Defects or failures in constructed facilities can result in very large costs. Even with minor defects, re-construction may be required and facility operations impaired. Increased costs and delays are the result. In the worst case, failures may cause personal injuries or fatalities. Accidents during the construction process can similarly result in personal injuries and large costs. Indirect costs of insurance, inspection and regulation are increasing rapidly due to these increased direct costs. Good project managers try to ensure that the job is done right the first time and that no major accidents occur on the project. As with cost control, the most important decisions regarding the quality of a completed facility are made during the design and planning stages rather than during construction. It is during these preliminary stages that component configurations, material specifications and f...

Underground or basement walls are required to be constructed in case of underground water tank, basement parking, as a store room and many other purposes. These underground or basement walls are exposed to many types of loads and forces, moisture due to presence of ground water or due to rains etc. Underground walls must support following functional requirements  whether it is in a framed structure or load bearing structure: Structural Stability Durability Moisture exclusion Buildability The presence of salts, high water table interfere with the construction process of the building, and it also affects the durability. These problems create restrictions on the nature of construction of walls below ground level and it is particularly important in case of basement to be used as internal building space. Due to moisture conditions in case of high water table, materials with low porosity are to be used. Porous materials absorb moisture from the ground and expand on freezi...

Three Phases of Building materials: A material’s life cycle can be organized into three phases: Pre-Building Building; and Post-Building. These three life-cycle phases relate to the flow of materials through the life of the building. The evaluation of building materials’ environmental impact at each stage allows for a cost-benefit analysis over the lifetime of a building, rather than simply an accounting of initial construction costs. Flowchart 3: Phases of building materials Select sustainable construction materials and products by evaluating several characteristics such as Reused and recycled content, zero or low off gassing of harmful air emissions, zero or low toxicity, Sustainably harvested materials, High recyclability, durability, longevity, and local production. Such products promote resource conservation and efficiency. Use dimensional planning and other material efficiency strategies. These strategies reduce the amount of building materials needed a...

Automatic multistoried car parking system helps to minimize the parking area. In the modern world where parking space has become a very big problem, it has become very important to avoid the wastage of space in modern big companies and apartments etc. in places where more than 100 cars need to be parked, this system proves to be useful in reducing wastage of space. This automatic car parking system enables the parking of vehicles, floor after floor and thus reducing the space used. Here any number of cars can be parked according to the requirement. These makes the system modernized and thus space-saving one. This idea is developed using 8051 microcontroller. THEORY OF PROJECT A display is provided at the ground floor which is basically a counter which will count the number of cars in each floor and according to that message will be displayed on it. A gate is also provided at the ground floor which is controlled by the stepper motor. Before the gate an IR pair is provided t...

Coarse Aggregate Properties affecting Mix Design Strength Maximum size of coarse aggregate: Maximum size of aggregate affects the workability and strength of concrete. It also influences the water demand for getting a certain workability and fine aggregate content required for achieving a cohesive mix. For a given weight, higher the maximum size of aggregate, lower is the surface area of coarse aggregates and vice versa. As maximum size of coarse aggregate reduces, surface area of coarse aggregate increases.  Higher the surface area, greater is the water demand to coat the particles and generate workability . Smaller maximum size of coarse aggregate will require greater fine aggregate content to coat particles and maintain cohesiveness of concrete mix. Hence 40 mm down coarse aggregate will require much less water than 20 mm down aggregate.  In other words for the same workability, 40mm down aggregate will have lower water/cement ratio, thus higher strength when compa...

Brick Masonry Terms and Definitions Course A course is a horizontal layer of bricks or stones. Bed It is the surface of stone perpendicular to the line of pressure. It indicates the lower surface of bricks or stones in each course. Back The inner surface of a wall which is not exposed is called the back. The material forming the back is known as backing. Face The exterior of wall exposed to weather is known as face. The material used in the face of the wall is known as facing. Hearting It is the interior portion of a wall between the facing and backing. Side It is the surface forming the boundary of bricks or stones in a direction transverse to the face and bed. Joint It is the junction of two or more bricks or stones. If the joint is parallel to the bed of bricks or stones in a course then it is termed as bed joint. The joint which are perpendicular to the bed joints are termed as vertical joints or side joints or simply joints. Header It is a brick ...